Bound at the Spark
by UntamableSouls
Summary: It's well known that spark split twins are a rarity that very few cybertronians have ever seen, let alone understood. A look into the lives of the infamous Lambo Twins.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: A Close Call

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. They belong to their rightful owners.

—

The sound of blaster fire was all around him. Static discharge filled the air followed by the strong scent of ozone. Sideswipe stood at the center of it all, unseeing in the middle of the battlefield due to the thick cloud of dust having been sent up from all the fighting. A shot whistled by his head, nearly clipping one of his audio-horns, but the front liner didn't even flinch. It didn't matter.

None of it mattered.

There was only one thing on his processor.

He couldn't find Sunstreaker. _He had to find Sunstreaker._

Sideswipe took off sprinting through the battlefield like a mech possessed while his spark cried out for his brother. He paid no mind the explosions and the resounding shouts, nor the telltale staccato shots of heavy duty artillery and the answering screams of pain. A stray bullet ripped through his side, sending bits of shredded metal flying but Sideswipe didn't stop running. He cared about none of it.

His spark gave another desperate cry, waiting for an answer that so far was not forthcoming. The frantic twin started calling out for his brother, voice almost inaudible over the deafening uproar of the battle around him. Desperation had led Sideswipe to throw all rational thinking and caution to the wind. He paid for his recklessness a moment later when a bombshell went off not far from where he was running and sent him flying through the air from the force of the blast. The ground was hard and unforgiving as he came crashing back down, his whole frame sent reeling in pain while numerous notifications popped up on his HUD.

Everything ached but still Sideswipe forced himself to his pedes, frame trembling and unsteady. He took a step forward only to be sent crashing back down to the ground as he tripped over something underfoot. A hiss of pain escaped his vocalizer and Sideswipe started to turn around to see what he'd tripped over, but froze when he realized what he was lying in.

Energon. There was energon everywhere, the scent of it so strong it almost made his tanks purge.

Sideswipe was no stranger to the lifeblood that sustained his race, and he certainly wasn't one to cringe at it. Having survived the Gladiator Pits and then being dragged into this Primus forsaken war had steeled both he and Sunstreaker's processors against the shock value. War meant blood, especially for front liners like he and his twin.

But this?

This was utter carnage.

There were piles upon piles of bodies with severed limbs and shredded bits of armor and protoform strewn about everywhere. It was as if both sides had shoveled their dead into a ditch and left them to rot, forgotten about in the wake of the factions' hatred for one another. No burial rights had been preformed, no respect was given for their fallen comrades. They had all just been… dumped in a pit to get them out of the way. It made Sideswipe feel ill, disgust rolling through him.

His optics trailed over the innumerable bodies of dead mechs, wondering if he'd find a familiar faceplate among the carnage and praying that he didn't.

But Primus did not answer his prayers that day.

A familiar golden form stood out even among at the death and carnage, though it's once pristine shine had dulled and paled once the paint nanites shut down. Once vibrant, cobalt optics that were a mirror to his own were now shut off and void of color.

Sideswipe's spark froze in his chest. Everything ceased to exist except for the broken, twisted form of his brother lying on the ground. His entire being called out to the golden mech—internally reaching for Sunstreaker's presence, his field, anything—as he dragged his frame closer but still received no answer.

He kneeled over the energon stained frame of his brother and stared, the image forever branded into his very soul.

' _Incomplete, lacking, broken,_ ' a part of him whispered.

A gaping void tore open in Sideswipe's soul and he screamed.

—

Sideswipe jerked upright in the berth, a hand clutching his chest as his fans worked to cool his overheated frame. He clawed at the protective covering over his spark chamber as a strangled scream tried to force its way out of his vocalizer. A wave of pain pulsed through him and he thrashed, spark crying out in agony and horror.

He couldn't feel the other half of his spark.

 _He couldn't feel Sunstreaker._

He gripped his helm and doubled over, fingers clawing in desperation and drawing energon as his wide, horrified optics stared, unfocused.

 _No! Primus, no!_ _It was_ _just nightmare! It_ _had_ _to be!_

A wail escaped him as the possibility that his worst fears might be true dawned on him.

 _He can't be—!_

"—ideswipe! _**Sideswipe!**_ "

The red twin jerked back as if slapped, eyes wide as they refocused on the room around him and realized he was in the medbay. He'd been so lost to his panic—his thoughts running in a horrified loop—that he'd been completely unaware of his surroundings.

 _Prowl would have my helm if he knew…_

Someone grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, causing him to snarl and slap the hands away with a vicious baring of teeth. _No bot_ but Sunny was going to be touching him if he had anything to say about it. Then all the fire bled out of him as his tanks suddenly rolled with telltale nausea. Sideswipe lurched from his position on the berth to lean over the edge and dry heave, body trying to purge his tanks, but there was nothing left to purge by that point.

"Where's Sunny?" He rasped to whoever was listening, searching desperately for the other half of his spark he could no longer feel. Then his eyes landed on the prone form of his brother on the other side of the room and the sound that left his vocalizer was akin to a wounded animal. He struggled to get out of the bed, needing to be near Sunstreaker when a hand descended on his shoulder and pressed him back to the berth.

"Easy," Ratchet intoned firmly, voice leaving no room for argument. "He's fine, you're both—"

"Then why the Pit isn't he waking up?!" Sideswipe demanded, voice harsh and spitting static. His field lashed out with enough force to make a lesser mech filch back a step, but Ratchet only narrowed his eyes and held his ground.

"He's not waking up because I made sure he wouldn't."

When Sideswipe opened his mouth to fire off another demand the CMO shot him a glare steely enough to make him snap his jaw back shut.

"Now you listen here: I understand you're scared, and in hindsight I should have made sure you both were in medically induced stasis to prevent something like this from happening, but we'll just have to deal with the fallout. You—" He jabbed a finger at Sideswipe. "—will not try to wake him up and by all you believe that is holy, if you don't stay in that berth _I will weld you to it_. Sunstreaker may have taken the blast for you, but you by no means came out unscathed." Ratchet glared down at Sideswipe, waiting for a nod of confirmation before continuing with a huff.

"Good. Now Sunstreaker's going to be alright, but he took a considerable amount of damage when he shoved you out of the way of the plasma blast. His armor could only do so much at such a short distance. There are severe burns on the right side of his chassis and shoulder, and there was a considerable amount of damage to his protoform and internals, but he fortunately the damage won't be permanent."

Ratchet let out a quiet sigh escape his vents to look over at the prone form of Sunstreaker, the monitors connected to him beeping steadily. "You both are lucky to be front liners because without all that armor he would have lost his arm and the entire right side of his chassis in the blast."

"But he'll be alright, won't he?" Sideswipe questioned in a desperate voice, needing to be sure. "You said he'd be okay."

"And he will be, but it will take time," Ratchet affirmed, turning his gaze back to the red twin. "I'll have to keep him in medically induced stasis until the damage is healed enough to my liking." The sudden horror that crossed Sideswipe's face didn't go unnoticed. "You know he won't stay in the berth long enough to let everything heal properly, he's too restless. The damage is too extensive for me to risk him reopening the wounds."

Sideswipe felt a sense of dread settle in his gut like a stone. "B-But I can't—"

Ratchet settled a hand atop the younger Cybertronian's shoulder. "I know it's hard for you not to be able to sense him—"

"No," Sideswipe hissed with a ferocity that surprised Ratchet. "You _don't know_. You have _no idea_ what it's like not being able to feel Sunny. My spark is _screaming_ right now because I can't sense him." He squeezed his optics shut and clutched his helm in his hands, nails creating trails of energon in their wake. "If I don't start to sense his spark soon, Ratch, I'm gonna lose it and then bots are gonna die."

The implications of what Sideswipe meant made Ratchet stop cold.

It was well known that the twins were some of the most lethal front liners the Autobots had at their disposal, but very few outside of Optimus, Ratchet, Prowl, and Jazz understood why the pair were so effective. Besides the bond making them perfect mirrors for each other in a fight, they had a primal baseline of coding that could turn them essentially feral. Should something trigger that coding to activate, the twins would become almost mindless with the sole focus of surviving and tearing apart anything they perceived as a threat. They had taken to calling it berserker coding and it was Optimus's ultimate trump card. When the twins entered that state, _nothing_ could stop them until they came out of it.

It was a truly terrifying thing to witness. The twins lost of semblance of themselves, their only drive being surviving and protecting one another. There were no friends, no allies outside of each other, only threats and enemies.

If Sideswipe was indicating that not being able to sense Sunstreaker would make him go berserk… Ratchet shuddered to think of the aftermath.

Ratchet was silent long enough to cause Sideswipe to open his eyes to look at him. The seasoned medic's lips were pursed and optics narrowed in deep thought, not looking at Sideswipe any longer but at Sunstreaker. Sideswipe could sense that the medic's field was laced with conflict and uncertainty. The red twin could only stand the silence so long before he broke it.

"Ratch...?"

"Alright," Ratchet answered, finally turning to face the him. "I'll reduce the anesthesia enough to where his mind will be active enough for you to sense him." The medic sliced a hand through the air, cutting off whatever exuberant exclamation was about to come out of Sideswipe's vocalizer. "But he will remain in stasis until I deem him healed, is that understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course, Ratch! Primus, thank you so much—"

"Don't thank me yet," he grumbled as he walked over to the IV hooked up to Sunstreaker's arm. "I know how you get when you're bored. And since I know you won't be leaving this room—"

" _Pit no_ ," Sideswipe's snapped, engine revving with a snarl as his plating flared, protective anger pulsing through him at the thought of leaving Sunstreaker alone, defenseless.

" _As I was saying,_ " Ratchet growled without any real malice, not bothering to look over at the other as he finished his task. "Since I know you won't be leaving, it will only be a matter of time before you get bored and I won't have you tormenting my other patients."

"I'll be on my best behavior," the red twin vowed as he came over to stand next to Sunstreaker's berth.

"I know you will."

Task completed, Ratchet checked the rest of the machines monitoring Sunstreaker's condition before nodding his approval and heading to the door. "You know how to get ahold of me should his condition change."

"You'll be the first to know," Sideswipe mumbled distractedly, already climbing up on the berth to be beside his twin, no longer paying Ratchet any mind.

The old medic let out a silent sigh of sympathy at seeing the stricken look on Sideswipe's face before letting the door slide shut behind him.

—

News traveled fast and it was only a matter of time before everyone heard what happened. There were plenty of bots that tried to stop by the twins' room to check up on the pair, but almost all of them were either turned away by Ratchet and First Aid, or Sideswipe snarled at them in wordless protective animosity until the visitors retreated. The only ones that were allowed entrance without fuss were Ratchet and First Aid naturally, Bumble Bee, Jazz, Iron Hide, Prowl, and Optimus. (And even though it was irrational, Sideswipe still placed himself between the visitors and his brother.) Jazz and Bee were the ones to visit most often on their off time. The pair brought plenty of video games to try and keep Sideswipe occupied, but the red twin could only muster up enough enthusiasm to play one or two rounds before turning his attention back to Sunstreaker.

Most of the time when no one else was around, Sideswipe would talk to Sunstreaker as he slept. He'd let his field mingle with his twin's in the hopes that maybe Sunstreaker would respond. Sometimes it would work and Sunny's field would weakly flicker against Sideswipe's own, but more often than not there was no response. He could feel Sunny's presence in his spark again, but it was almost always non-responsive.

It was slowly driving Sideswipe insane.

He couldn't sleep, and when he did it was always riddled with reoccurring nightmares of the day Sunstreaker shoved him out of the way of the oncoming blast. He only ate when Ratchet came storming in the room like a force of nature and threatened to force a feeding tube down his throat if he didn't start taking his medicinal energon. He hadn't bothered to go to the fresher since before the incident. Sideswipe even told Sunstreaker this to try and get some sort of reaction, but there was none.

It was a week later before something finally changed.

Sideswipe was half-heartedly playing one of the games Bee had dropped by earlier that orn when he thought he felt a ghost of a flutter along the bond. Immediately the game pad was forgotten and the crimson twin whirled to face his brother, trying and failing not to get his hopes up, holding his breath that maybe he would feel something again. His gaze was earnest on the prone form of his brother, sending gentle waves of encouragement he hoped the other could feel. But the klicks ticked by with no other reaction and Sideswipe felt his spark fall with defeat.

Turning away in dejection, he reached to pick up the discarded game pad when suddenly he felt the flutter again. He whipped around a second time, _certain_ he'd felt something this time. Staring at Sunstreaker he didn't dare to breathe. A stretch of nothing for a few klicks and then there it was again. Sideswipe's optics went wide, ignoring the sudden spike in noise from the numerous machines hooked up to Sunstreaker as his brother's frame started to _move_. A twtich in his servos, a shift in his limbs, the slow clenching of his fists, a light sputtering growl from his engine.

And then the blue optics that mirrored his own were cracking open, gaze hazy and unfocused as Sunstreaker instinctively sought out his twin. Side's lower lip trembled as Sunstreaker made eye contact with him and with a pitiful whine Sideswipe launched himself at his brother, clutching to him desperately as a broken sob of relief left his vocalizer. Sunny's arms came around him to hold his sobbing brother, too exhausted to ask what happened and why they were in the med-bay. He could partially put the pieces together even in his drug addled processor. So, he simply held Sideswipe close and let his engine idle at a soothing rumble, letting Sides vent his pent-up anxiety and stress.

And then the golden twin was getting slapped none too gently on his still healing wounds and he flinched, lips turning down into a forming scowl when Sideswipe glared up at him.

"Don't you ever pull that slag again!"

Sunstreaker glared down at his brother and snorted.

"As if you would do any different," he rumbled in exasperation, processor already pounding with an oncoming headache. The sensation eased as he felt Sides transfer most of the pain to himself, the action more reflexive than anything. When one twin was hurting the other would help to share the pain and act as a buffer. It was automatic. Twins shared _everything_ , even pain.

"Does it look like I give a shit?! If you ever do that again, I'll send you into a coma myself!"

Sunstreaker growled, tightening his hold around Sideswipe as he snapped out a retort.

The two were so focused on growling at one another that they didn't notice Ratchet and First Aid throw open the door, panicked that Sunstreaker's condition had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, his monitors going haywire and setting off alarms in both of the medics' HUDs.

The medics watched, momentarily slack-jawed, as the pair shot off barbed remarks and waspish retorts to one another. But even as the twins all but yelled at each other, neither of them had yet to let up their hold on the other.

And so with a ping to First Aid's comms, Ratchet told his prodigy to stand down and leave the pair alone. Right now the twins needed to be alone and sink into their bond so they could feel whole again. There would be time to check Sunstreaker over later.

By then the pair had stopped growling insults and simply clutched at one another with a desperation only conjunxes could possibly understand, the bond open wide and flowing between them, reassuring each other as much as themselves that everything was fine.

They were so lost in one another they didn't notice the door quietly slide shut as the medics let them be.

Yes, everything would be just fine.

—

Thank you so much for reading!

This is my first fanfic and it took a lot to work up the courage to write this and finally post it. I would like to thank my friends for encouraging me and helping me along the way, otherwise I doubt I would have ever made it this far. I'd also like to thank J.M. Spellbound, the author of the beautifully written fic What Once Was Lost, for letting me use her idea for the berserker coding in this story. I highly recommend you go read her fics if you like Transformers. You won't regret it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It took a while, but finally I managed to crank out chapter 2! I wanted to say thank you to those who have followed, favorited, and left reviews. It means more to me than you could possibly know.

(Also, in case anyone was confused, the start of the last chapter was only a nightmare Sideswipe's mind conjured up when he passed out after having been reached by the medical team and taken off the battlefield. The beginning of this chapter focuses on Sunstreaker's memory on how the incident _actually_ happened.)

—

 _Sunstreaker_ _slammed his plasma blade through the spark the opponent in front of him and tossed the body aside carelessly, reaching for his twin along the bond. Sideswipe answered the silent inquiry, though the response was distracted._

 _Sunstreaker_ _turned to watch as his brother bore down on his own enemy, a feral smile on his lip plates that would better be called a snarl. Sideswipe needed no help from his twin and so Sunstreaker_ _turned his gaze elsewhere, having seen movement near where his brother was fighting. His gaze scanned the battlefield, trying to pinpoint the source of the movement he'd seen. He optics settled on a nearby disturbance and his spark stopped cold._

 _A decipticon_ _the two had all but gutted was struggling to right himself as he bled out in pool of his own energon, his red, hate filled optics focused on Sideswipe. Trepidation filled Sunstreaker's_ _spark and he felt a fleeting thought pass through him that they should have decapitated the bot. He saw the con powering up his plasma canon and aim it at Sideswipe's exposed back. At that close range the damage would be fatal._

 _Sunstreaker_ _didn't think. He took off at a sprint at his twin, bellowing for Sideswipe to move._

 _It was like he was watching everything in slow motion. He saw his brother finally gained the upper hand on his opponent and gutted him, turning to face Sunstreaker_ _with a look of confusion crossing his features, unaware he was giving his attacker the perfect opening at his back. He sensed the moment Sideswipe picked up on desperation, his twin's eyes widening in shock. Sunstreaker_ _saw the charge lighting up the plasma canon, watched the sudden flare of light from the discharge as the con fired._

 _Sunstreaker_ _slammed into his twin and it sent the other flying back with a startled shout. He barely had time to register his relief before pain ripped through his chest dangerously close to his spark chamber. He watched as Sideswipe's optics widened in dawning horror as the plasma shot tore through his armor and protoform._

 _He collapsed to the ground with his eyes facing skyward, hearing an enraged bellow of fury as Sideswipe lost control and their berserker coding_ _activated. The sounds of carnage ensued, but it seemed so far away to Sunstreaker._

 _At first there was pain, but soon that started to fall away. Then there was relief at having made it in time. Briefly there was fear. Fear at leaving Sideswipe to survive alone in this Primus forsaken war... If Sideswipe even managed to survive being separated from his twin. Numbly he sent a prayer to a god he didn't believe in, asking Primus to watch over his brother and that hopefully Sideswipe could forgive him one day._

 _Then everything started to fade. He could feel himself growing cold as the corners of his vision dimmed._

 _Then..._

 _Then there was nothing._

 _—_

Sunstreaker opened his optics to the stark white of the medbay ceiling. A cursory inspection to their bond revealed that Sideswipe was still deep in recharge, carefully plastered against his side (ever mindful of his wounds even in sleep) and venting quietly. Sunstreaker's attention was taken away from his sleeping twin when he felt a careful brush of a familiar field against the edge of his own. He shifted his gaze to find Ratchet standing nearby, gaze piercing and assessing as he looked over Sunstreaker's form, subtly inspecting his healing injuries from a distance.

"Bad dreams?" The CMO inquired lightly, voice soft so as not wake the red twin curled against Sunstreaker.

Sunstreaker's lip-plates thinned and he grunted a soft affirmative, shrugging a shoulder. "Hard to forget it."

Ratchet hummed and took a quiet few steps closer to the edge of the berth, idly checking over the input of the machines still hooked up to Sunstreaker. "Indeed it is." The medic turned his gaze back to the frontliner, eyes narrowing in consideration. "If you wish," he offered slowly, voice tinged at the edges with skepticism. "I could administer a mild sedative—"

Sunstreaker's engined turned over in an involuntary growl, the sound soft but a definite negative. The golden twin blinked and exvented a near silent sigh, forcing himself to calm and telling himself he knew the older mech meant no harm by the offer. "No, I've slept enough."

Ratchet accepted the reasoning with an easy nod. He took no offense to the reflexive aggression from the golden twin, having known him long enough not to be affected by his sometimes mercurial and defensive temperament. "I expected you'd say as much."

Sunstreaker glanced down to Sideswipe who started to stir briefly against him. "Does he remember?" He asked, voice soft as he sent a pulse to help settle his twin back down into slumber.

"About what happened back on the battlefield?" Ratchet returned, crossing his arms as he looked to the red twin. "Yes, but from what he's told me, it's... fragmented. All he seems to remember is seeing you go down before the coding took over. Then it all gets fuzzy and everything begins to blur together."

Sunstreaker nodded, knowing himself how their coding had the tendency to short out and muddle their memories when they lost control.

"He... also mentioned having nightmares," Ratchet added after a moment of silence, unsure if Sideswipe had brought the topic up yet or not. "Or rather, nightmare. He only ever mentioned having a reoccurring one about—"

"Me offlining, I know," the golden twin interrupted softly, smoothing a hand over Sideswipe's helm. "After I woke up and we merged, I saw it."

The medic grunted, shooting the frontliner a sidelong glance. Considering the damage Sunstreaker had sustained from the blast, he was lucky his spark-chamber hadn't been damaged. Ratchet momentarily considered scolding the younger mech for straining himself after just having woken up—with welds still healing no less!—but quickly brushed it aside. He couldn't fault the pair for merging after having been essentially separated for over a week. So in the end he let the matter drop.

Not wanting to think of how close Sunstreaker could have came to losing his life (the thought made him feel physically ill), Ratchet changed the topic.

"You'll be discharged in an orn or so," he informed the other as he turned to record his vitals on a data pad sitting nearby. The old medic didn't miss the near silent exvent of relief Sunstreaker released and he smirked to himself in amusement, knowing how much both twins hated being confined to bed rest in the medbay—or anywhere else, for that matter.

"Don't get excited," Ratchet warned and turned back to face his patient. "You'll both be restricted to light duty for the next week or so until your internals have fully healed, Sunstreaker." He raised a hand, silencing whatever the golden mech was preparing to say. "No, I don't want to hear it—you might be awake, but you're not out of the danger zone yet. If you're not careful, you could reopen your wounds, cause more internal bleeding, and injure yourself worse than before. Your system is still recovering from the trauma of what you went through and straining yourself will not help anything."

Sunstreaker looked like he still wanted to argue, so Ratchet pulled out his ace in the hole.

"Besides, you don't want to give Sideswipe anymore reason to worry, do you?"

That made the golden twin snap his jaw shut, gaze dropping to his brother as the fight bled out of his form while his expression softened at the edges. Ratchet knew it was a low blow and a cheap shot to use Sideswipe against his brother, but one way or another he was going to make sure Sunny didn't overtax his systems and land himself back in the medbay. If there was one thing Ratchet could count on, it was the pair always making the other their top priority.

After a few moments Sunstreaker focused back on Ratchet with narrowed optics. The look in his optics told the older mech Sunstreaker knew exactly what Ratchet had pulled, but while his lips were a thin line and he didn't look pleased by the manipulation, he wasn't actively arguing.

Ratchet counted it as a victory.

Satisfied that other would behave himself, Ratchet gave a nod while making sure to keep his satisfaction out of his field.

(It wouldn't do to give Sunstreaker a reason to be _difficult_.)

Finishing up his notes in the data pad, Ratchet made a mental note to inform Prime and Prowl that the pair would be on light duty for the next several orns. He didn't expect any objections from Optimus, but Prowl might be another matter entirely. The twins were very efficient at what they did and everyone knew just how much Prowl and that damned battle computer of his favored _efficiency_.

The medic grumbled under his breath, huffing through his vents as he forced that line of thought away. He flicked his gaze back up to Sunstreaker and his sleeping twin, about to inform Sunstreaker he would also be confined to drinking medicinal energon until he was fully recovered, but stopped short when he saw how the golden twin's optics had begun to dim and his venting started to slow.

Ratchet took that as his cue to leave and signed the data pad before setting it on the counter and heading to the door, making up an excuse that he needed to go check on another patient. He knew better than to point out Sunstreaker's obvious exhaustion, or else the mech might take offense and stay awake out of spite and stubbornness.

And as Ratchet made his way out of the room, he cast one glance over his shoulder at the pair. A ghost of a smile found its way to his lips when he saw Sunstreaker's helm resting atop Sideswipe's, already having fallen back into recharge. The CMO turned away, pinging a command to dim the lights as the door slid quietly shut behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **—**

It was two orns later when Sunstreaker was discharged from the medbay with strict orders from Ratchet that the pair were to remain on light duty for the next two weeks. After that Sunstreaker's condition would be re-evaluated and Ratchet would decide whether the berserker could be cleared for the front lines. Neither Sunstreaker nor Sideswipe could even muster up any annoyance at being restricted to light duty. Sunstreaker was simply glad to be discharged and Sideswipe didn't want to do anything that could endanger Sunny's recovery.

So the twins took up shifts together for patrol duty around the base. The patrols were merely a precaution; it was highly unlikely any decipticons would ever make it far enough to actually reach the base, but one could never be too careful in war.

Needless to say, though, it was often boring and monotonous. Sideswipe—always the more vocal one of the two—would whine up and down about how tedious patrols were until Sunstreaker snapped at him to shut up. There was hardly ever any real heat behind the retorts, causing Sideswipe to only smile to himself as he obediently would fall quiet for all of a click before starting back up again. But still, boredom ate at the younger twin, making him antsy and fidgety, constantly looking for things to occupy his attention which often led to mischief. As Autobot high command had learned long ago, a bored Sideswipe was a menace.

Sunstreaker could sense his twin's processor coming up with _something_ that would definitely land them both in trouble, but whenever he prodded at his twin's thoughts, Sideswipe would resolutely shut him out, a secretive grin on his lips. Eventually Sunstreaker dropped the matter, knowing he would find out sooner rather than later whether he liked it or not.

It wasn't even halfway into their first week of patrol duty when it happened. After their shift Sideswipe had turned and taken off the opposite direction as Sunny, telling his twin with a wide grin he'd be along shortly and not to wait up. Suspicion immediately flared in Sunstreaker's spark, but he let his twin go with a shake of his helm before heading off to the mess hall.

Without his brother present, Sunstreaker saw no reason to linger with his other officers, instead grabbing his and Sideswipe's fuel rations and promptly leaving. There were a very select few Sunstreaker cared to interact with outside of his brother and none of those bots were present. The stares of the soldiers were not lost to the golden twin; he and Sideswipe had quite the formidable reputation among both factions of the war. But unlike Sideswipe, Sunstreaker never bothered trying to engage or befriend the other soldiers. While Sideswipe was the social one, Sunstreaker was closed off, a loner who everyone learned very quickly to leave be.

Leaving the mess hall and heading off towards their room, Sunstreaker pulled up short at the sounds of pedes pounding against the floor, headed in his direction at the end of the hall. The bond flared to life, a mantra of ' _oh slag, oh slag, oh slag!_ ' ringing in his helm. Exasperation filled Sunstreaker as Sideswipe came barreling around the corner, eyes bright and looking mildly panicked.

His eyes found Sunstreaker instantly and relief bloomed through the bond. "Sunny! Oh, thank Primus!"

Sideswipe caught his arm as he passed by and yanked, hissing for his brother to get a move on when he didn't budge from his spot. "Come _on!_ He's not far behi—"

And a large mech rounded the corner, field awash with animosity. His faceplate and chassis were covered in a burst of neon pink paint, rivulets running down his hips and thighs. The mech in front of them was not one the twins knew, just another soldier whom they'd never personally worked with on or off the field. He caught sight of Sideswipe and his engine turned over in a vicious snarl, homing in on the pair. "You pitspawn! I'm gonna rip your spark out!"

The threat instantly set Sunstreaker on edge. His whole frame tensed and he shrugged Sideswipe's grip off, quickly moving so he was standing between his brother and the irate mech.

" _Back off_ ," Sunstreaker snarled low in warning, fists clenched and blades itching to release.

He'd purposefully positioned himself so Sides was behind him, his frame blocking his twin from the raging mech trying to glare holes through both their plating. Sunstreaker knew Sides needed no protection; they both were more capable of taking care of themselves with or without the other. But ever since their creation, Sunny had always taken on the role of shielding Sideswipe from the world as best he could. It was a compulsion, the need to keep the other half of his spark safe. Sideswipe was everything he wasn't. Sideswipe was better. One of the few bright sparks left in this Primus forsaken war. He was the center of Sunstreaker's universe.

Sunstreaker would always be there to keep him safe.

"That fragger blew up a _bomb_ in my face!" The mech snarled with dentae bared as he gestured to his frame.

"You seem just fine to me," Sunstreaker growled, engine revving in warning as the other dared to take a step closer.

Sideswipe shifted behind him, clinging to his armor and reaching out to Sunstreaker through their bond. ' _It wasn't meant for him,_ ' his brother informed him, sounding cowed and apologetic. ' _Ironhide was supposed to be coming out after a debriefing with Prowl. I didn't know that mech was in there! It wasn't meant to be him!_ '

' _I know,'_ he assured his twin calmly, pulsing along the bond in an effort to soothe Sides' frayed nerves.

"He should be thrown in the _brig_ ," the mech bellowed, oblivious to the twin's silent conversation. "Locked up! He's a _menace_!"

Sunstreaker could once again feel the compelling desire to unsheathe his blades and shut the mech up. Never mind the fact that it was prohibited to activate one's weapon systems on base unless they were in the training rooms or under fire; there was a part of Sunny that wanted to make the other mech _bleed_.

"And I told you to _back off_ ," Sunstreaker snapped, losing what little patience he had left and feeling his infamous temper reach the boiling point.

Something in his tone gave the other mech pause in his irate ranting and he stopped to study the pair with optics narrowed in suspicion. Sunstreaker continued to hold his ground as the mech looked he and Sideswipe over, waiting for some look of recognition.

It didn't take long now that the mech had stopped to actually look and see who he was yelling at. The look of anger slowly bled into an expression of recognition before shifting into something decidedly hostile. The mech's lips lifted in a nasty grin, bearing his teeth and suddenly laughing under his breath. "Well, that's just my luck, ain't it?"

Something in his change in demeanor and tone set both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker immediately on edge. The pair began to unconsciously shift their stances, recognizing this mech as a possible threat and preparing for the confrontation to turn into an all out brawl soon. They weren't concerned if they could take the mech down, not at all. But there was something that was just… _off_ about him. He didn't seem stable.

' _Unhinged,_ ' Sideswipe whispered along their bond. Sunstreaker sent a pulse of silent agreement.

The mech cocked his head at the pair, noticing how they began to shift and how their optics brightened as they watched him. He began to take step towards the two—

"There a problem here, mechs?" A smooth, familiar suddenly voice cut in, startling them all.

Jazz sidled up to the group, instantly taking in the scene and analyzing what he saw before settling his visored gaze on this unnamed mech. Sunstreaker idly wondered how long Jazz had been covertly listening in before deciding to intervene.

"Yeah, there's a Primus damned _problem_!" The mech gestured irately to his vibrant, paint covered form. "That slagging glitch set a _bomb_ off on me!"

There was a shift in the light behind Jazz's visor and he tipped his head vaguely in the direction of where Sideswipe was still idling behind Sunstreaker. The red twin offered a sheepish smile and shrug, not denying the accusation.

"In my defense, it wasn't even meant for him. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You think that makes this slag alright?!" The mech bellowed, taking a step in Sideswipe's direction.

What little of Sunstreaker's patience finally flickered and died, weapons systems humming as they started booting up without his conscious decision to do so. The sound immediately sent everyone into a tense silence. It was a small blessing his weapons didn't fully activate, instead only idling with power thrumming through them. But the threat was there.

The mech in front of him took immediate notice and stiffened.

With how angry he was feeling, Sunstreaker knew his optics had to have had red starting bleeding into them, turning the deep blue into a dark, menacing violet. Sideswipe sensed the shift in him and placed a hand on his upper arm, both to calm him and act as a form of restraint. Jazz's field had taken on a sort of unsettling stillness, calculating and dangerous. Sunstreaker knew he had to tread very carefully, otherwise he would land himself in a very precarious—and likely painful—situation at Jazz's hands.

The three nearly jerked as the silence broke without warning, the unnamed mech in front of them laughing caustically as he looked to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

"I knew you'd show your true colors," he sneered with a vicious gleam in his eye.

"Ya know, I've heard what you two do out in the field," he continued venomously. "Everyone knows about the carnage you leave behind, your constantly rising body counts. What makes either of you pit spawns any different from the 'cons, huh? How are you any different from those _monsters_?"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker snarled, engines shifting gears and revving with a thunderous, vicious rumble as they stalked forward a single step. The unnamed bot's grin was on the verge manic and shifted as if about to move forward to meet them.

"Curbstomp," Jazz cut in with menacing calm, using the mech's name for the first time. Something in his tone made everyone go still. There was no trace of the normally laid back and amicable mech. "Either ya shut your mouth or you're gonna find yourself in the medbay hopin' Ratchet has what he needs to replace a ripped out vocalizer." His visor glinted dangerously and his lips lifted from his denta to flash his fangs in a thinly veiled snarl. "Now, stand down and _shut up_. "

The mech glared, eyes flashing as his fists clenched. "You threatenin' me, officer?"

Jazz lips lifted in a slow, chilling smile. "Not at all, mate. I ain't gonna do a thing to ya," he countered with an easy shrug. "Can't say they won't, though." The head of Spec Ops titled his head in the direction of the silently seething Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

Curbstomp sneered towards the pair. "I'd love to see you pitspawns _try_."

"That's enough," Jazz snapped, his voice having lost the last of its amiable tone. "You're upset, I get it, but Sideswipe will be reprimanded in accordance to the severity of his actions by his _commanding officer_." Nodding his helm back down the hallway, he added in a tone that left no room for argument, "You're dismissed, Curbstomp."

Curbstomp lingered, gaze still locked on the twins with no little amount of venom. Jazz stepped in front of the pair, partially blocking the mech's view, his expression uncharacteristically cold and serious.

"It wasn't a suggestion, Curbstomp. _Leave._ " The saboteur cocked his head in a manner that was decidedly predatory, visor glinting. "Or would ya rather I escort ya to Prowl's office for insubordination?"

That seemed to get the message across. The paint splattered mech curled his lip and sneered one last time in the twins' direction before finally turning and heading back down the hall, frame stiff with unreleased tension. Sideswipe had to bite his lip to hold in a giggle when he noticed the small trail of bright pink paint following behind the mech.

Once he was out of sight, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both relaxed. Jazz turned to the pair and fixed his visored gaze on Sideswipe and crossed his arms, and though they couldn't see his optics, the two had the sensation Jazz was raising his brows.

Sideswipe scratched the back of his helm and offered a sheepish smile followed by a helpless shrug. "It could have gone worse…?"

Jazz's formerly serious expression melted into an amused twist of his lips and he smirked. "Sure, you have fun tellin' that to Prowler. I'm sure he'll agree."

Sunstreaker rolled his optics at Sideswipe's answering groan. "At this rate we're never gonna get back to the front lines!"

The yellow twin issued a sharp jab to Sides' ribs causing him to yelp. The younger twin hunched his shoulders under his brother's accusatory glare. "Not if you don't quit pulling this slag we won't!"

Sideswipe gave Sunstreaker what he hoped passed for a placating smile. "I promise not to do it again…?"

Sunstreaker's deadpan glare was answer enough. Jazz laughed.

* * *

I'm very sorry it took me so long to update. My muse and inspiration abandoned me and it took me forever and a half to figure out how to proceed with this. I'm happy with how this chapter turned out, though, and I'm hopeful that I'll be posting another chapter in a more timely manner. ^^"


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